Composite textile strand and fabric



luy 29, 1947.

A. DAvls 2,424,743

COMPOSITE y"IEIX'IILYI STRAND AND FABRIC Filed March 31, 1945 Patented July 29, 1947 v`UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ICE COMPOSITE TEXTILE STRAND AND FABRIC Archibald H. "Travis, Washington, D. c. Application March 31, 1945, Serial No. 585,879

9 Claims. (Cl. 281-82) A general object of the invention is to greatly Another object is to produce a wide variety of textile fabrics of inorganic fiber base of novel or improved industrial utility.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description.

The invention includes composite textile strands comprising one or more bers of inorganic material and an organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the inorganic ber and projecting therefrom to a greater effective diameter in the strand than the inorganic fiber. The invention also includes textile fabrics broadly, woven, knitted, plied and laminated from the strands of the invention into sheets, webbing, belts, tapes, cordage and the like, which may be coated, laminated or otherwise treated by known methods to produce articles of improved utility or appearance.v l

Typical of the inorganic fibers useful in the invention are glass fibers produced in the known way o-f any desired dimensions, composition and color. Other inorganic fibers suitable for luse in the invention are asbestos fibers, mineral Wool fibers, and metallic fibers or wires.

The organic plastics useful in the invention may be selected from a wide variety of classes of organic resins and elastomers including cellulose esters and 'ethers; polymerization and copoly merization products of olenic compounds, such as vinyl compounds, styrene, acrylic acid and its derivatives; synthetic or artificial rubber colmpositions, such as polymerized dienes and the various modifications thereof, rubber halides and hydrohalides, and chloroprene; urea, thiourea, and melamine-aldehyde resins; phenol-aldehyde resins; glycerol-polybasic acid resins; polycarboxylic amide condensation products; and mixtures of two or more resins or elastomers. The plastics may include suitable plasticizers, pigments, fillers and other modifying agents well 2 be made in a wide variety of ways, such as by plying or .twisting together one or more threads or fibers of inorganic material and one or more threads or bers of organic plastic. In forming the strands by twisting, it is desirable that the relative tensions on the inorganic and on the plastic fibers be such that in the finished strand Ithe plastic fibers or threads overlie or project in the strand beyond the effective diameter of the inorganic fiber or bers in the strand. If the final fiber or thread diameter o-f the plastic is the same as or less than that of the inorganic fiber or thread, the tensions should be such that the plastic fiber is given a substantially greater twist. If the nal diameter of the plastic fiber is greater than tha-t of the inorganic fiber, the twist of the plastic fiber may be the same or less than that of the inorganic fiber. The plastic fiber may be twistedor plied in a multip-le of directions with respect to the inorganic fiber.

The organic plastic composition may also be applied to the inorganicber in the form of discontinuous or discrete elements, such as short fiber lengths, or in smallmounds or strips, or in any other way which will provide on a portion only of the surface of the inorganic fiber or fibers forming the base of the strand projecting organic plastic material which in an eventual fabric will separate the inorganic fibers of juxtaposed strands and lubricate or float the inorganic fibers in the fabric structure so as to release the full strength of the inorganic fibers 4while preventing abrasion of juxtaposed fibers, thereby enhancing the strength, iiexibility and durability ofv the fabric structure. The projecting organic plastic fibers or elements of the strand or fabric also provide an ideal base for attachment of coating compositions both by increasing the adhesiveness of the surface of the strands by the related chemical composition of the projecting plastic to the coating composition and by providing an. effective mechanical interlocking by virtue of the channels and projections formed by the .plastic on the strand surface.

The invention will be more particularly described With reference to the accompanying drawing showing illustrative embodiments of th principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged diagrammatic represen` tation of a composite strand embodying the prinyciples of the invention; y

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the composite strand of Fig. 1; f

Fig. 3 is an enlarged diagrammatic representation of another embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are enlarged diagrammatic views of further embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged diagrammatic plan view of a fabric of the invention, and

Figs. 8 and 9 are enlarged diagrammatic crosssections of coated fabrics of the invention.

In the figures, the Aorganic plastic elements or fibers are stippled to distinguish them from the inorganic fibers of the strand.

In the strand shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the inorganic ber IIJ and the organic plastic fiber It* are of substantially the same diameter and the plastic liber is caused to project to a greater diameter in the strand by giving it a greater idegree of twist in the strand, for example, by silbjecting the inorganic fiber to greater tension than the plastic liber while twisting the two fibers into the Strand.

In the strand of Fig. 3, the organic plastic liber I I has a greater fiber diameter than the inorganic ber I vso that when twisted into a strand at substantially the same tension the plastic liber projects to a greater distance in the strand than the inorganic fiber. In forming strands of the type shown in Fig. 3, the organic plastic fiber at the time of plying into the strand maybe of the same size or even smaller than the inorganic fiber and thereafter swollen to greater size by a suitable treatment such as by heating or by treating with a swelling agent.

In the strands of Figs. 4 and 5, organic plastic fibers Il are plied or twisted about substantially straight inorganic bers i0. A plurality of plastic fibers of different directions of twist may be utilized, as in Fig. 5.

'I'he strand of Fig. 6 is illustrative of a variety of possible forms of the invention in which discrete elements of organic plastic material II. are' applied to the surface of an inorganic ber il).

Fig. 7 shows diagrammatically how the organic plastic elements II of the invention act to separate and lubricate, while at the same time interbonding the inorganic fibers in the fabric structure so as to 'make available the full tensile strength of the inorganic nbers while preventing their abrasion and improving the flexibility and hand of the fabric. It will be obvious that the same combined lubricating and bonding action will be eiective When the strands of the invention are interplied, interwoven, knitted or interlaced in any direction and according to any pattern. The inorganicfibers constituting the basis of the fabric will not be in direct contact at any point, although maintaining to the maximum their characteristic strength and resistance.

Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate in diagrammatic crosssection a fabric of the general type of Fig. 7

coated with a coating composition I2, for example, a natural or synthetic rubber compound.

In Fig. B the fabric is shown with the inorganic fibers I0 and the organic plastic fibers II projecting from the plane of the section to illustrate more clearly how the organic plastic elements of the invention bond the coating composition to the .plastic structure both by the greater inherent adhesion of the plastic elements and by the mechanical interlocking which is in dicated, for example, at I3.

It will be clear from the foregoing description and examples that the construction and arrange-v ment of the elements of the strands and fabrics may be widely varied without departing from the principles of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A composite textile strand comprising at least one inorganic fiber and discrete elements of an organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of said inorganic fiber and projecting therefrom to a greater effective diameter in the strand than the inorganic fiber.

2. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of inorganic bers separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the inorganic fiber.

3. A composite textile strand comprising at least one glass ber and discrete elements of an organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of said glass fiber and projecting therefrom to a greater effective diameter in the strand than the glass fiber.

4. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of glass fibers Separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the glass fiber,

5. A composite textile strand comprising at least one siliceous ber and discrete elements of an organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of said siliceous fiber and projecting therefrom to a greater effective diameter in the strand than the siliceous fiber.

6. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of siliceous fibers separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the siliceous fibers.

7. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of inorganic bers-separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the inorganic fibers, and a coating composition bonded to said inorganic fibers by said organic plastic composition.

8. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of siliceous bers separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the siliceous fibers, and a coating composition bonded to said siliceous fibers by said organic plastic composition.

9. A textile fabric comprising a plurality of glass fibers separated from each other in the fabric by discrete elements of organic plastic composition covering a portion only of the surface of the glass fibers, and a coating composition bonded to said glass fibers by said organic plastic composition.

ARCHIBALD H. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS France Nov. 16, 1929 

